Declaration of Independence

This week, Americans will celebrate the signing of the “Declaration of Independence” that officially formed our nation.  It took Thomas Jefferson 17 days to write it and on July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain.

Suppose you were charged, as was Jefferson, with the task to write a declaration of independence (who knows-perhaps we should all consider writing one in case cessation from the United States becomes necessary).  Would you begin by reading model documents to emulate?  If you looked to the one written by Thomas Jefferson, what language would you want to amend?

Bear with me while I give it a try.

Let’s begin with “self-evident.” I consulted, https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Appeal-to-Self-evident-Truth and found: In everyday terms, something is "self-evident" when understanding what it means immediately results in knowing that it is true, such as 2+2=4. The concept of self-evidence is contentions and argued among philosophers based on their ideas of epistemology. This means that what is "self-evident" to one person is not necessarily self-evident to another. However, some ideas are clearly self-evident and some are not.

Since the word “self-evident” can be argued to be subjective, I would delete it.

Next let’s consider “all men”. Obviously, we meet gender bias head on, so I would make a change that read “all humans”.

Then we get to, “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator” BIG PROBLEM (Creationism)! It is curious to me that Jefferson did not use the word “God” here, which purposes that even he had reservations about throwing a deity in the mix.  I would delete the phrase.

Finally, I would keep but amend, “with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to read, “retain unalienable Rights that include Life, Choice, Liberty, Justice, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Embedded in these amendments are the principles of: sanctity of Life, the value of Choice (that includes abortion and death with dignity), Liberty (the freedom to live as you wish and go where you want), Justice (the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness), and the pursuit of happiness.

Jefferson chose to write, “and the pursuit of happiness”- not the promise of happiness.  For perhaps he wisely knew that happiness is fleeting and elusive, but he also recognized that a government should not stand in the way of the pursuit of happiness. I ask, “Shouldn’t a government promote and support the pursuit of happiness?”  How often have we heard the words “happiness” and “war” used in the same sentence?  Obviously, not very often.  In fact, aren’t these words mutually incompatible?  Should a government allocate an inordinate percentage of its resources to a war machine that ultimately causes death and destruction, instead of financially supporting “life” and “the pursuit of happiness”? Shouldn't we (the government) support social programs that lift up all residents regardless of location or the circumstances of birth?

In conclusion, my proposed Declaration of Independence would read:

We contend that all humans retain unalienable Rights that include Life, Choice, Liberty, Justice, and the pursuit of Happiness.

This week, as we celebrate the 4th, we should recognize that we live in a polarized democracy where language and actions matter, and that democracy is fragile and can be easily bent toward oligarchy and fascism..

CPW